


Baby's First

by moodyrebelmage



Category: Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Dad!Cullen, F/M, Fluff, Parent Cullen, Parent Cullen Rutherford
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-02
Updated: 2015-11-02
Packaged: 2018-04-29 12:11:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 473
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5127134
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/moodyrebelmage/pseuds/moodyrebelmage
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Cullen shares an important moment with his brand new daughter. Fluff results.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Baby's First

She was six weeks old when she gave Cullen her first gift.

Her mother had left for the market soon after laying her down for a nap, but the baby hadn’t slept for longer than ten minutes. She wasn’t crying. She lay there grunting in her bassinet, her tiny pink hands jerking up and down commandingly as if she were issuing urgent orders. Elodie usually let her fuss for a bit until she fell back to sleep, but the second Cullen’s face peeked into her line of sight, the grunting changed to soft coos that sent a calming warmth through his chest.

“Well, hello,” he murmured.

Misty eyes locked on him, unblinking. They were still a deep blue-grey, though her mother swore she was starting to see flecks of amber in them in the right light.

“You’re late for a very important baby appointment,” he told her, nudging the bassinet until it rocked gently. “Your mother will be upset with me if you don’t keep it.”

While she rocked, he stepped back into the kitchen, but before he had so much as picked up his knife, she was grunting again. Now the grunts were peppered with tiny barks of anger.

“You know,” he said, returning to the bassinet to give it another nudge, “I’m under strict orders not to remove you from this bed until you have slept for at least one hour.”

The moment she saw him again, the grunting stopped. Cheerful gurgles rolled through her throat, her pink lips twisting awkwardly as she tried to read his face. They formed a perfect O, a little tongue just peeking out as if she didn’t know where it was supposed to go. Then they pulled up in what he thought was a grimace until he saw the bubble of her cheeks, and the wrinkle under her eyes.

Cullen’s face twisted, too, mimicking her shifting expressions as she cooed and chattered at him. Even in the quiet of his own home, he felt a little ridiculous, but the baby was transfixed, and he was her servant.

“We’re both going to be in a lot of trouble if we don’t stop this nonsense. Is that what you want? You want to get daddy in trouble?”

And that was when she found it. The corners of her mouth pulled up, her eyes shone, her lips still twisted clumsily, but there was no mistaking its graceless glory. A tiny, perfectly imperfect smile.

Cullen’s breath caught as he fought to capture it, to savor that flawless, fleeting second forever, half wishing he could save it and relive it with his wife and half thrilled that it was his alone.

The smile broke and she cooed again. He lifted her into his arms, snuggling her against his shoulder.

“All right, just this once,” he said.

It was a lie.


End file.
